Navajo Nation weighs next step for New Mexico gaming compact

The Navajo Nation has a year and three months to negotiate a new Class III gaming compact with the state of New Mexico.

The existing compact expires June 30, 2015. But efforts to revise the deal have run into opposition from other tribes and state lawmakers who represent those tribes.

The major issue appears the number of casinos authorized by the compact. The tribe currently operates two Class III facilities and wants to open three more.

"We have a responsibility to the Navajo people," Derrick Watchman, the chief executive officer for the Navajo Nation Gaming
Enterprise, told The Navajo-Hopi Observer. "The Navajo tribe is growing like everybody else and we have to keep options open. Five facilities seems like the right number."

Watchman said the tribe will go back to the table to negotiate another deal.